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‘They are far more sophisticated in their grammatical competence than we ever understood.

‘Despite the fact the toddlers we studied were acquiring French, our findings are expected to extend to other languages.

‘I believe we should give toddlers more credit – they’re much more amazing than we realised.’

The researchers found a clear, yet previously undetected, pattern of sounds which replaced grammatical words in many of the children's utterances

For decades, the prevailing view among
developmental specialists has been that children’s early word
combinations are devoid of grammar.

It was believed that children then undergo a transformation where, due to an unknown mechanism, they start to develop grammar in their speech.

Dr Dye’s results have challenged this belief.

She said: ‘The research sheds light on a really important part of a child’s development. Language is one of the things that makes us human, and understanding how we acquire it shows just how amazing children are.

‘There are also implications for understanding language delay in children.

‘When children don’t learn to speak normally it can lead to serious issues later in life. For example, those who have it are more likely to suffer from mental illness or be unemployed later in life.

‘If we can understand what is “normal” as early as possible then we can intervene sooner to help those children.’